[Poll] What are you looking for in a custom campaign?

[Goffterdom]

Hello everyone

I'm taking some time to work on my hobby projects these days.

One of them required me to analyze what makes a good custom campaign on Warcraft and I thought I'd share it and take the opportunity to ask your point of view on the subject.

This thread contains:
- a poll asking what would be your top 3 most required elements for a good custom campaign
- the break down of the different elements I deemed important for that purpose
- asking your point of view about the subject

The Poll
Please, choose 3 of the following elements as "top required feature" you (as a player) are looking for in a Warcraft custom campaign.
Top 3 doesn't mean what you leave aside shouldn't be good, it means it can be forgiven if your top 3 is top-notch quality level.

Element Breakdown
(there are not ordered by priority)

• Custom Models
  The campaign features fitting custom models for units and doodads.

• Compelling Gameplay
  The gameplay is not aimless or repetitive and has reasons for happening.

• Stylish Cinematic
  The campaign features cinematic with action taking place other than units dialoguing.

• Interludes
  The campaign features narrative driven map without gameplay.

• Voice Acting
  Dialogues have voice acting, even a poor executed one.

• Good Dialogues
  The campaign is well written.

• Compelling Story / Plot
  I want to reach the end of reach mission to know what's happening in the story.

• Custom Abilities
  The available abilities are either fresh and/or really interesting and well implemented.

• Custom Tech Tree
  The unit and building roster is fresh and/or well implemented, interesting and fitting the faction theme.

• Memorable Characters
  The featured characters are impressive, I can relate to them and I understand their reasons.

• Good Terraining
  The terrain has details, there are various biomes, the level of details and map scale is respected.

• Good Rhythm
  The story is focusing and what I want to know and there are no lengthiness.

• Compelling Missions
  Missions are different from one another and from the usual ones and / or very well implemented.

• Not a Fantasy story
  The story does not take place in a medieval, magical, fantasy world.

• Not a Warcraft story
  The story is not taking place within the world of Warcraft.

• Alternative Mechanics
  There are new game mechanics or the mechanics are different from Warcraft 3.

Your point of view
I'd be glad to hear about:
- any element I might have missed
- any existing element I might have wrongfully described / analyzed
- the difference between RTS/RPG campaigns in the current subject
- your take on that analysis
- anything at all on the subject

See you soon fellas and hope to read from you

 

[A]mun]

Solid/compelling/fleshed out gameplay is probably most important, for any game.
Graphic/sound should make sense mostly and don't put too much strain on the eyes.

There's more theory that can be applied, but in the end you can make a lot of things work/get away with.

 

[shadow2632]

I think many of the custom campaigns already show what people want and enjoy. The vanilla campaign is not bad but it really feels like a long tutorial... Most missions are quite repetitive and rarely we rarely get something out of the ordinary.

What we want is something fresh, different here and there rather than building a base and training units for the 27th time. Default spells also feel quite dull but mostly because of how often we see them, Changing them a bit or making custom spells really adds a lot.

Voice acting, custom music and new models are a nice touch for a campaign but it really should shine from its gameplay and plot, basically something that takes real advantage of the power the world editor gives instead of a fast remake of the vanilla campaigns. Or at least I think this is the right approach....

 

[cleavinghammer]

In my opinion, the main draw is the story: if it's interesting enough, the gameplay is secondary at best. Take Warcraft II: Nearly every mission consists of "build base -> destroy enemies", but the story was interesting enough to keep players going. Conversely, a bad story becomes a chore to go through because you just don't care enough to see what happens next.

Characters are a tough one, because making them actual characters instead of, well, stronger units with unique spells requires a lot of work in the writing and cutscene department.

Voice acting is a double-edged sword, because it's so easy for it to be badly done. Many of the best campaigns here have no VA and don't suffer from it in the least. Voice acting that makes you mute cutscenes because of how cringy it is can ruin immersion.

Game difficulty is going to be different for everyone, but one thing I hate is facing three or four enemies and they all attack at the same time. Does it makes sense from an in-game perspective? Yes. Is it fun? No.

New music is also nice, but a lot of campaigns suffer from using the exact same trailer musics for bossfights, especially as these aren't designed to loop around.

Custom models can help, but they really need to use the same style as the standard ones. Models taken straight from WoW clash with the standard War3 models.

Alternate mechanics and spells are a good addition, but they require a lot of testing. It's very annoying to have to stop a campaign halfway through and wait for an update to fix a game-stopping bug.

Terraining is usually secondary unless done in spectacularly lazy fashion (all-flat terrain, monolithic blocks of tiles, etc.).

Originality is always good. It's entirely possible to add to an already existing story to make a good campaign (see the various adaptations of Warcraft novels, the Warcraft 2 campaigns, etc.) but it needs many additions to avoid the aforementioned "build&destroy". Sidequests, cutscenes, character interaction, etc.

Spelling and grammar errors can be annoying, but they can be forgiven if the meaning remains clear.

Not War3/not fantasy: Well obviously a lot of maps are going to be War3 or fantasy themed, that's what most of the models are designed for.

And for the love of every god of every galaxy: MAKE. THE CUTSCENES. SKIPPABLE. Testing involves doing the same things over and over, and having to sit through the same thirty seconds removes a lot of motivation.